In this episode, HorsePLAY! LIVE becomes The Derailment Extravaganza (or is it Bonanza) once again. Matt Bradford from Zombie Cast and VGO (Video Game Outsiders) returns to HorsePLAY! to help us stay raw, silly, and off-topic. Some may know him as @MattoMcFly or “Moto”. He’s also known as one of the writers for the Guinness World Records: Gamer’s Edition, AllGames, and GamesRadar, amongst other things. We know him as one of our favorite Canadian geeks!

Matt confessed that any time after 11pm Eastern on a week day, he is essentially brain dead. As a result, we get the sillier, more random Matt’O. Somehow, he manages to give spoilers for our own show. There are the usual wild tangents and shenanigans, but we mainly talk about Hearthstone, The Walking Dead, and freemium games.

We don’t do nearly as much League of Legends talk these days. Matt groans at the mere thought. It turns out that he may actually enjoy the game but the toxic community as seen on Reddit and other social media scares him away. There are plenty of mainstay games we would like to play with our friends and fans – LoL is certainly one of them so give it a try… Stan Faryna did! #YOHTAI

Show Highlights:

Golf is just something for bored richies to show off how much money and land they have.

WWF does not make us think about endangered animals.

“There’s a lot of cool cats on the AllGames network.”

HorsePLAY! LIVE is the perfect show to be brain-dead on!

Matt Bradford plays the hand harmonica.

Yogi is a very loud Puerto Rican, NOT a Mexican.

Sword Art Online is like dot.hack and Photon.. And it’s coming back for Season 2!

Apparently, everyone is too young to remember Photon.

We all love The Guild.. And Felicia Day.. Wil Wheaton, too.

Chris Hardwick is a narcissistic douchebag.

“WTF is in the basement??”

Twitter is getting rid of #hashtags.. Brilliantly stupid.

Third-party Twitter apps are WAY better than the official one.

Twitter is going to kill their existing user base.

“90% of the population mis-uses hashtags.”

Hearthstone iOS app is available only in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.. Sorta.

You can now rejoin Hearthstone matches if disconnected.

Fashionably late The Walking Dead S4 finale reactions.

When is free-to-play really pay-to-win?

Hearthstone is NOT a pay-to-win game.. We explain why.

Did we mention we are now part of the AllGames family now??

Tons of other geeky antics and train wrecks, as per usual.

Matt Bradford has also put the Canadian bacon debate to bed. This is his official statement, and I am paraphrasing:

Is that even ours? I don’t think so.. It’s an abomination. Canadian bacon is ham, NOT bacon.

“Moto”, you are a man above all men. We love having you on the show and hope to have you join our geeky antics more. Now, we need more G33k Grrlz and a little less Mancrushes.. It’s starting to be a sausage fest over on HorsePLAY! LIVE.. Where’s the bacon??

To understand the spirit of the Geeky Antics Network Global (G.A.N.G.) initiative, it may be worth talking a bit about the origins of HorsePLAY! and how we have evolved. As we see it, HorsePLAY! is one of many brands and communities we will use to expand the network. We love teaming up with other podcasters, geeks, and content marketers..

…But, anyway, origins…

HorsePLAY! Where Geeks Come To Play!

When Obi and I first started HorsePLAY! LIVE, it was three of us crazy geeks talking video games (we miss ya Soldierism), technology, and whatever else happened to tickle our fancies at the time. We had a very heavy focus on PC gaming, indie games, and MOBAs (League of Legends in particular). We’re still a very young podcast but in our few months of doing this together, we’ve evolved quite a bit. Now, HorsePLAY! is more about digital entertainment as a whole and we certainly have other defining elements in comedy, news, etc.

The beauty of starting any content is that you can run with a very vague idea and build upon it as you go along.; in fact, it’s best to just jump right in and not just over-think things into paralysis. As we do more HorsePLAY! episodes, our general ideas get more refined. We like to keep our content as raw and gritty as possible, yet we have a very deliberate direction for HorsePLAY! and GANG alike.

Don’t be afraid to dive in – the GANG is here for you!

It’s hard to describe what HorsePLAY! is in terms of categories (maybe you can help us when conclude this article) and main themes but we certainly know what we want to be in everyone’s minds. In simple terms, we see HorsePLAY! as a community platform for geeks to collaborate, laugh, and just hang out. That’s exactly what GANG is being built for as well.

HorsePLAY! LIVE has evolved to become the primary podcast platform for Geeky Antics. It is an interactive show focused on cross-promotion and community engagement, just like the rest of the GANG.

Certainly, there are tons of networks out there taking the gaming or geeky angle. Geek & Sundry, AllGames (one of our unofficial partners), PodGods, and VOG (Voice of Geek) come to mind. These are all networks we love yet they are missing a few things. These are the opportunities the major networks miss and we’d like to capitalize on:

Creating systems to make it easier for people with great ideas to produce great content.

Delivering multi-language content around the world.

Building communities that are just as much a part of the creative process as the authors, producers, and hosts.

Collaborating with geeks that have the same passion and goals we do here on GANG.

Fostering a team spirit while allowing everyone to express themselves freely and authentically.

Liberating content marketers so that they can have fun – for the first time or all over again!

The last two items are particularly important to us. All the big networks do a good job of branding and spreading influence; however, the individual contributors usually get the worst part of the deal. We want to guide creatives and geeks through the processes of content marketing while allowing as much freedom as possible to our contributors. We don’t want anyone to feel trapped or restricted while we provide such guidance.

GANG provides the tools, experience, and people to foster an environment of collaboration, fun, and results. It’s a team effort – for REAL!

All GANG team members and contributors have the option of producing exclusive content or syndicating. Regardless of the path chosen, we want this network to feel more like a family or, better yet, gathering place for friends and family. We’re willing to give almost anyone a chance. The only real rule is this: don’t be an asshat and please check your ego at the door.

Of course, things get tricky when monetization is involved. Everyone has bills to pay and nothing is truly free so we have plans for revenue sharing and building capital. Now, we recognize there is a fine line between sustainability/profit and selling out. Our hope is that we can stay authentic and have fun doing what we’re passionate, while being profitable. It’s a tall order but we know it can be done.

Another major pitfall we want to avoid is become elitist or too exclusive. We’ve found that many outlets refuse to give people a chance yet everyone has to start somewhere. Whereas most media networks/empires pursue established personalities to siphen some of their audience, we want to create mutually-beneficial scenarios where audiences, creatives, and platforms all win (win-win-win’s, as I like to call them). Establishing a good balance between being professional and casual will be a challenge in itself.

Whereas most media networks pursue established personalities to siphen some of their audience, we want to create win-win-win scenarios.

If you believe in team spirit and are tired of the politics in major media networks, GANG is the place for you. We can’t promise that we will never employ ads, microtransactions, or anything of the sort but we can promise that the art comes first. That said, donations and volunteering will be a big part of our sustainability and growth. Fundraisers are definitely on the horizon. Believe me, every contribution (creative, financial, or otherwise) goes a long way for our collective success.

So that there is our GANG manifesto. We know the specifics will become more clear as we grow our team and release more great content. Thus far, the response has been amazing. The support we have been getting has made the process far less daunting so we truly appreciate all the folks volunteering and rallying for us.

Now it’s time to introduce our team so far because a network, or any organization at that, is nothing without the right people supporting it. First, James Tarr, better known to HorsePLAY! fans as ObioneX2 (or just plain Obi), is a growing personality on Twitch. These days he is heavily into Arma 2 but he has also been hardcore into League of Legends, War Thunder, Hearthstone, Battlefield 4, Day-Z, and other PC games. Obi specializes in video production, particularly when it comes to livestreaming, which involves a balance of community engagement, overlay/scene design, and scheduling. His knowledge in these areas will help us establish the production value and timing necessary to create and build audiences in what are otherwise very crowded spaces.

Now for Mr. Ellis! Dakota Ellis has gone by many names, including DingleDorf and Asmodeus. He is a long-time clanmate – GO NOF – and friend. Kota is pretty new to online marketing but has been involved in forums, Twitter, Facebook groups/pages, mailing lists, and other projects. He’s also been a moderator and community liaison for small games like ARC/Spark and Babo. Our hopes are to groom him as a social media specialist so he can help us curate content and sustain our various engagement paths (or marketing channels, if you prefer).

Next up is James Fortengard, known by AllGamers as Yuri or Fort. James has quite the impressive resume, which boasts the ability to speak many languages and vast knowledge of comics, anime, film, video games, and more. Like many lesser-known online personalities, Fort never quite got the chance to strut his stuff on an established platform or network. He’s a tough cookie with strong opinions so we’re excited to see what we he can do once he is given a chance to do his thang. We already have several concepts for shows/podcasts so expect some new exclusives soon!

Then there’s Matt Bradford (@MattoMcFly on Twitter), who has confirmed interest in joining GANG but is super-duper busy (we understand, buddy). He’s currently busy with Guiness World Records, VGO (VideoGameOutsiders), AllGames Network, Games Radar, and Zombie Cast so he’ll be a guest host and blog contributor until we can all seduce him to stay for the long haul. Please show Matt and the rest of the team some love, guys!

Finally, there’s Andy Fewtrell a.k.a. Spathizilla, who works tirelessly to make sure servers are secure and up around the clock. He’s one of my oldest friends and one of the few people I can truly say I trust completely and consider a brother. I mean, that’s not to diminish everyone else’s efforts but this guy puts in the time and money, whereas most will just make promises and never follow through. He’s a guy that you can count on.. And it helps that he’s from England and has the awesome accent! Really, he needs to lend that to our podcasts (one day, we hope)!

But wait – there’s MORE! The GANG is the entire community over at GeekyAntics.. That includes YOU! Yes, all you awesome folks who donate, share, comment, listen, view, chat, etc. There is no us with you soooo.. Thanks for being YOU!

So that’s our team so far. We hope to introduce our new GANGsters as HorsePLAY! guests but, for now, expect some blog contributions here soon enough. Before we close out this GANG manifesto, I wanted to involve you all in the evolution of HorsePLAY! since it is our flagship show. Take the poll below and leave some comments. Let us know what your impressions of HorsePLAY! are so far. This feedback will help us produce even better content. Keep it positive and constructive. We will not feed trolls! *wink*

We got a great response from HorsePLAY! EP10 so we are going to continue our unofficial Zombie Talk Series for at least an episode or two more. So far, we have barely scraped the surface wounds so will switch the format up a bit to jump straight into the zombie herd. For tonight’s show, HorsePLAY! LIVE EP11 “Night of the Zombie Geeks”, we will team up with Zombie Cast for a total of five hosts. The focus will be on The Walking Dead but we will try to delve into games, podcasts, books, movies, etc.

NEW! Did you miss HorsePLAY! EP10? No worries – here is the HD video, just for you! We’ll be adding more videos and show highlights so let us know how we’re doing and what you’d like to see more of!

So far in Season 4.5 of The Walking Dead, Episodes 9 through 11, we have seen a rather slow build-up. It looks like the show is still committed to fan fare for followers of the comics yet the introduction of Terminus is taking the story into a whole new direction. We have a lot of speculations and predictions on this aspect of the story arc alone.

Here are some topics we will tackle, straight from our HorsePLAY! LIVE show notes:

Has Daryl gone derp like Rick?

Wait, Beth is the hopeful one and now Daryl seems to be giving up? Get it together, Daryl!

Babies in the zombie apocalypse: hope or nuisance?

Lizzie must be related to The Governor – she’s CRAZY!

Will Tara go straight?

What if Tyreese finds out about what Carol did?

Did any of the Season 4.5 scenes lack tension? Maggie searching for Glenn on the bus, for example.

Will Glen be overwhelmed by guilt and give up?

WTF? Bulletproof Maggie!

Wait a minute.. Are Daryl and Beth going the wrong way on the tracks??! That’s not Terminus!

An upcoming Daryl-only episode makes us think someone will die. Will they be bold and kill Daryl or just dump Beth?

Spin-off TWD show coming 2015 alongside Season 5. Any thoughts or additional info?

With the TWD spin-off show set for a 2015 release, how long will this current crew of survivors keep us hooked? The general consensus by Shawn Freeman and Matt Bradford of Zombie Cast in EP10 was that they have one or two strong seasons left, yet there is a world of things they can still do in this universe.. without the spin-off(s). We are concerned yet hopeful!

There’s lots to say here but I will save it for the show. I will say this: TWD EP9 and 11 were rather slow but they are definitely building up to something big. I think they might redeem what has otherwise been a stale season towards the end. The key is to keep introducing and building up key characters so we can get invested in the experience once again.

I am curious if Robert Kirkman will be bold enough to kill off Daryl. He’s clearly a fan favorite and what will all the teeny bopper girls do if the stud is gone?? Regardless of how many badasses they assemble, I would say TWD’s strengths reside in the human elements so they should rely less on the zombie battles. Of course, we love the epic takedowns but it’ll be better if they space it out and make us anticipate those moments more.

What do you guys think about Season 4.5 of The Walking Dead this far? Let us know in the comments section below!

Come join us on HorsePLAY! LIVE tonight and every Thursday night at 11pm EST. We may be rescheduling in a month or so to better accomodate our guests but, for now, we are the Interweb’s midnight crew for all things geeky. Party with us!

HorsePLAY! is coming back after a one-week hiatus. Well, maybe we can’t call it a hiatus as it wasn’t like we went on sabbatical or just got lazy. Obi was under the weather and we’ve been getting hit by power outages here in Georgia so I could not make it. Heck, we had another blackout last night so hopefully things will settle down in time for our first double-digit episode!

For HorsePLAY! EP 10, we’ll be joined by some of the folks over at Zombie Cast and, if we can nail him down (see what I did there?), Tony Rey of We’re Alive (and other fame). Eli Sodoom from Knuckleballer Radio may also join us if he can stay awake. This will be a special episode where we’ll discuss all things zombies but I am sure we will touch upon the infected and undead monsters that purists would never call a z-word. This will likely be a two-part upload to make up for our week off, too!

Here is a little taste of what we’ll likely discuss…

The Walking Dead Episodes 9 & 10

If you ask me, there was quite a huge contrast between Episode 9 and 10 of the Walking Dead Season 4, particularly with the pacing. We’ll talk about the wow moments, disappointments, and more predictions. It’ll be fun to see the different perspectives, especially since Obi has not caught up on the show yet. Beware – there will be spoilers!

Be sure to tweet us with any topics you’d like us to touch upon. We’re @Yogizilla and @ObioneX2, guys. I think we may even go back into previous seasons with some recaps and foreshadowing. Have you noticed any clues or omens on TWD? Do share!

Is Evil Dead A Zombie Movie?

With a title like Evil Dead, one would think the franchise is about zombies but that’s a debate that could go either way. Certainly, there are undead creatures but are these zombies? This discussion will almost certainly lead to our definitions of what zombies are, as well as distinctions between infected, behemoths, and the non-shambling runners.

Bring your boomstick and prepare to defend your fanboy position. Regardless of whether you feel Evil Dead is a zombie flick or not, it is one of the best horror flicks ever made. Campy humor, Bruce Campbell, and gore.. Classic horror right there!

Game Developers LOVE Zombies

Dead Pixels and Day-Z are two examples of video games that embrace zombies. Video games seem to be chock-full of them, whether they’re the focus of the title or a small part. Plants Vs. Zombies, SolForge, Guardian Heroes, Left 4 Dead, Dead Island, Borderlands.. Zombies are invading all video games, big and small!

Is it me or do indie developers seem particularly drawn to zombies? When will ninjas and vampires make a comeback? Pirates have already started to but zombies seem to be the dominating force…

Anyway, Dead Pixels. Super fun game that is reminiscent of River City Ransom. It has co-op and tons of upgrades. Give it a try and let us know what your longest run was like.

In EP 9 of HorsePLAY! we started to reminisce a bit about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As per our usual style, the discussion somehow derailed into speculation about The Shredder. So, tell us what you think.. What are Shredder’s origins?

Don’t forget to check out HorsePLAY! Episode 9 (full HD video link), where we talk about commercialization, exaggerated marketing and special effects, consumer scams, V-Day, and the Super Ad Bowl. There are tons of interesting updates in our Obligatory News segment, too.

We’ll be showcasing more episodes of HorsePLAY! right here on GANG soon. Still debating if we’ll sprinkle in the full library to date or just feature select episodes. Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Hmmm, maybe favorite HP! episodes will be the next poll… Anyway, if you’re viewing this from somewhere other than the Geeky Antics Network Global (GANG) site, be sure to visit us and take the poll.

A couple of days ago I was talking with ObioneX2 about our growth strategies for social media, online marketing, and all that good stuff. We brainstormed for a good 45 minutes. Sadly, our biggest immediate goal was still pending. Right after hanging up, I get a tweet and an email from our account manager on Stitcher, congratulating us on being added to Stitcher. Talk about good timing!

We are beyond stoked about the HorsePLAY! Stitcher Radio station. Stitcher is much more accessible than iHeartRadio and iTunes, especially for smaller brands and startups. The process was easy and well worth it.

From a marketing perspective, I love how Stitcher is a more open market. Everything is primarily ad-supported and everyone has a chance to have their voice heard. It’s a very inclusive experience, whereas other networks make submission or being featured exclusive (and sometimes painful). Stitcher does not place tons of limits or requirements on content, which allows us creatives to do our thang and not worry about filters, post-production editing, and potential conflicts of interest. They see the inherent value in syndication, collaboration, and cross-promotion, just like we do here at GANG.

From a consumer perspective, I love the wide variety of content there is on Stitcher. You can enjoy old style radio shows, psychic readings, technology news, video game reviews, friends getting together, and so much more. For me, listening to audio shows is a fun way to spice up my work hours and support other lesser-known marketers and online authorities. I have looked around and nothing comes close to what Sticher offers. The ease of use, features, massive content library, and behind the scenes team make this network top-notch, whether you are a listener, broadcaster, or both.

I also wanted to comment on comments made by Chris Hardwick of the Nerdist a few years back, when they pulled their content off the Stitcher network. He and other A-listers feel that no one should be able to monetize their content. They make a huge deal about ads being place in front of their content. I see this as an expected requirement to keep the Stitcher Radio platform as open as possible. There’s no need to make a fuss when even YouTube is doing the same thing and Google multimedia platforms are far more restrictive.

We’re excited to work with Stitcher Radio to help them expand while we grow our own brands here on GANG. As long as we are allowed the freedom to produce the content we are passionate about, I see no issue. There’s no such thing as a free lunch and we get that so rock on, Stitcher Radio!

As such, we urge all our supporters to follow our Stitcher Radio referral link, leave us a review, add us to a playlist or two, and support our fellow podcasters. By supporting Stitcher Radio, you support our show and fellow geeks worldwide. Everyone wins!

Thanks for the support and help us celebrate this big win for our team and community. Tweet me @Yogizilla and @ObioneX2 with what you’d like to see next. Topic and guest suggestions are always welcomed!

Stay tuned for more HorsePLAY! updates, events, and previews here on GANG and on our Horseplay Steam community group!

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